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Tag: BVAS

  • INEC Provides 21 BVAS Machines to Tribunal for Kano Governorship Case

    INEC Provides 21 BVAS Machines to Tribunal for Kano Governorship Case

    Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday tendered to the Kano State Governorship Election Tribunal 21 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

    The machines were used in 21 polling stations in 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs), Tudun-Wada, Gaya, Gezawa, Bunkure, Bebeji, Ungogo, Ajingi, Warawa, Karaye and Garko.

    it is recall that the All Progressives Congress (APC), on April 9 filed a petition against INEC for declaring Abba Kabir-Yusuf of the NNPP the winner of the March 18, 2023 gubernatorial election.
    The respondents are INEC, Abba Kabir-Yusuf and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

    NAN recalls that the tribunal on June 6 granted leave to the petitioner to access and inspect the BVAS machines used by INEC in the governorship election.

    At the resumed sitting, Counsel to INEC, E.A. Oshayomi led Mr Ocheka, an INEC employee, to present the machines to the court.

    Ocheka told the court that the BVAS machines required protection because when their batteries run down codes would have to be sent from China before they could be reactivated.

    “Owing to safety reasons, let me go back with the BVAS to INEC office and whenever the court needs them I will bring them back,” Ocheka said.

    Counsel to the petitioner, Nureini Jimoh (SAN), tendered the 21 BVAS to the tribunal to support their petition and objected to the machines being returned to INEC.

    Counsel to Kabir-Yusuf, Mr R A Lawal, and Counsel to NNPP, Mr John Baylesha, did not object to the admissibility of the BVAS machines in evidence.
    “Once the petitioner tendered the machines, it is left for the tribunal to decide where to keep them for safety reasons,” he said.
    The petitioner has so far presented 18 witnesses to testify before the court to prove its case.

    The three-man panel led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay adjourned the matter until July 12 for the continuation of hearing.

    Details….

  • INEC Erased Presidential Results In BVAS – Forensic Expert Tells Court

    INEC Erased Presidential Results In BVAS – Forensic Expert Tells Court

    Mr. Hitler Nwala, a digital forensic expert who appeared before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, June 22, alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wiped off results of the presidential election that was held on February 25.

    Documents showing deletion of results for the February 25 presidential election was admitted as evidence by a five-member panel of justices of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.

    Nwala who was brought in as the 25th witness of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is challenging the declaration of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the presidential election, noted that a test done on a sample of 110 BVAS machines showed variations that could be nationwide.

    He also revealed that results on the 3,163 BVAS used for the election in the FCT which ought not to have been deleted as there were no governorship elections in the territory, were also deleted.

    During cross-examination of the witness, counsel to INEC, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, faulted report of the witness, stressing that 110 BVAS devices used for the election were not sufficient to establish that there was any irregularity on the part of the Commission.

    Mahmoud who noted that a total of 3, 263 BVAS devices were deployed during the presidential election, argued that the sample the witness based his report on, represented only about 3.5 percent of the total device the INEC deployed in FCT and 0.06 percent of the total BVAS that was used for the presidential election across the country.

    President Bola Tinubu, whose legal team was led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and APC’s legal team led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, urged the court to reject the report of the witness which they said was laced with manifest errors.

    Asides from pointing out that the evidence of the witness is very vital to the case of his clients “considering that it was the first that we had a technologically driven election in this country,” PDP lawyers, Chris Uche (SAN) and Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) also tendered bundles of certified copies of INEC’s Forms EC8A from 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Ogun state.

    Certified copies of polling unit results (Form EC8A series) from 17 LGAs in Ondo state, 27 LGAs in Jigawa as well as from 20 LGAs in Rivers State were also tendered.

    While INEC opposed the admissibility of the documents in evidence, saying it would give its reasons in its final written address, President Tinubu and the APC raised objections to the admittance of the electoral documents in evidence.

    Justice Tsammani-led panel accepted the documents in evidence and marked them as Exhibits in the matter.

    The case was adjourned till Friday to enable the petitioners close their case, after which the Respondents will open their defence.

  • BVAS Inspection: Labour Party Threatens Nationwide Protest At INEC Offices

    BVAS Inspection: Labour Party Threatens Nationwide Protest At INEC Offices

    Labour Party (LP) has threatened to protest at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nationwide over the Commission’s failure to allow it to inspect materials used for the presidential election of February 25th, 2023.

    The party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi had sought an order from the Court of Appeal to prevent INEC from reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). But the court gave the Commission permission to reconfigure it and asked that Obi be given access to inspect the materials.

    Days after the ruling, the LP Presidential Campaign Council (LP-PCC) spokesman Dr Yunusa Tanko accused the electoral umpire of not following the court order.

    “As we speak INEC has chosen to obey the court order given to it to reconfigure the BVAS machine, which they doing right now and ignoring the order granted to us to inspect electoral materials,” he said in the statement dated March 10, 2023.

    “We, therefore, call on the general public to note the level of lawlessness and brazen disobedience to a lawful order of a court by an important statutory agency such as INEC, which is a well-calculated attempt to undermine and frustrate the presentation of the Petition by the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate before the tribunal in good time.

    “We, therefore, want to state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices nationwide in a non-violent protest which is allowed by law. This is to curtail the flagrant disobedience to court orders by INEC.”

    READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with greatest impunity have refused, neglected and failed to obey the Order of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja made on the 03rd day of March 2023, directing it to grant the Labour Party and its presidential candidate H.E. Peter Gregory Obi leave to apply and receive from INEC, certified true copies of materials used in the presidential election held on 25th February 2023.

    It will be recalled that the aforesaid Order of the presidential election petition tribunal was duly served on INEC on the 3rd of March 2023 despite the fact that they were present and represented at the tribunal when the Order was made.

    Not minding the service of the said Order on INEC, and a reminder letter dated the 6th day of March 2023 and delivered the same date at the INEC Headquarters Abuja, the electoral umpire has continued to ignore and or disobey the valid Order of such magnitude till NOW.

    It should be noted that in a democracy like ours, rule of law must triumph not only in our legal system but also in our body polity as a whole. Parties to litigation like in the instant case must accept and obey every order of a court in good faith and no party should be seen to employ self-help to disparage or disrespect an order of a court which if not checked and curtailed could possibly undermine our democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism.

    The action of INEC under reference also constitutes for all intent and purposes, an act of judicial insubordination and willful refusal to comply with the order of the court.

    As we speak INEC has chosen to obey the court order given to it to reconfigure the BIVAS machine, which they doing right now and ignoring the order granted to us to inspect electoral materials.

    We, therefore, call on the general public to note the level of lawlessness and brazen disobedience to a lawful order of a court by an important statutory agency such as INEC, which is a well-calculated attempt to undermine and frustrate the presentation of the Petition by the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate before the tribunal in good time.

    We, therefore, want to state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices nationwide in a non-violent protest which is allowed by law. This is to curtail the flagrant disobedience to court orders by INEC

    Thank you

    Dr Yunusa Tanko
    Chief Spokesman
    LP-PCC

  • Court Approves INEC Request To Reconfigure BVAS

    Court Approves INEC Request To Reconfigure BVAS

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja has granted approval to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the governorship and state house of assembly elections.

    In an application, the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate Peter Obi had sought an order from the court restraining INEC – the Ist respondent – from tampering with the information in the BVAS machines until the due inspection is conducted and certified true copies (CTC) of them issued.

    But on Wednesday, a three-member panel of the court of appeal led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh granted INEC’s request to reconfigure the BVAS machines for this week’s elections on the ground that the information on them will be uploaded into the back-end server which cannot be tampered with.

    The panel argued that restraining the electoral umpire from reconfiguring BVAS will affect the conduct of the guber and assembly polls.

    The appeal court, however, mandated INEC to allow the applicants to inspect and carry out a digital forensic examination of the electoral materials used to conduct the polls and also avail them of the certified true copy of the result of the physical inspection of the BVAS.

    The court also granted the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Tinubu’s request to inspect election materials for the February 25th exercise.

  • INEC Appeals to Court Seeking BVAS Re-Configuration

    INEC Appeals to Court Seeking BVAS Re-Configuration

    There are indications that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will approach the Court of Appeal seeking to set aside its earlier ruling concerning the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS.

    A senior official of the commission, who did not want his name mentioned, informed Daily Trust about the development over the weekend in Abuja.

    Recall that the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, had sought and obtained an order from the Court of Appeal to inspect election materials used by the INEC.

    However, with the gubernatorial election slated for Saturday, the electoral body intends to ask the court to set aside the order so it can reconfigure the BVAS before the election.

    According to the paper, the official said, “We have to approach the court to grant us leave to do the re-configuration, as this cannot be done without the court order. The re-configuration must be done on time as it would be done manually and would be deployed to the designated PUs.”

  • INEC Promise Full Of BVAS For March 11 Polls

    INEC Promise Full Of BVAS For March 11 Polls

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has banned all categories of its staff found to be negligent during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections from participating in the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections.

    The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this yesterday in Abuja at a meeting with the commission’s resident electoral commissioners (RECs).

    “As we approach the governorship and state assembly elections, we must work harder to overcome the challenges experienced in the last elections. Nothing else will be acceptable to Nigerians.

    “All staff found to be negligent, whether they are regular or ad hoc officials, including collation and returning officers, must not be involved in the forthcoming elections.

    “RECs must also immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established,” Yakubu said.

    Yakubu said he appreciated the sacrifice and doggedness of Nigerians and the dignity and maturity displayed by political leaders, even in the context of divergent views about the election.

    He said a lot of lessons had been learnt, and that of immediate concern to the commission is how the identified challenges can be addressed as the country approaches the concluding phase of the general elections involving the largest number of constituencies, being 28 state governorship election and 993 state houses of assembly seats.

    The INEC boss insisted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would once again be deployed for voter accreditation and result management.

    “The deployment of BVAS has gone a long way to sanitise voter accreditation as can be seen from the result of recent elections. Since last week, the commission has intensified the review of the technology to ensure that glitches experienced, particularly with the upload of results, are rectified.

    “We are confident that going forward, the system will run optimally,” Yakubu said.

    He said the commission appreciated the patience and understanding of Nigerians, and that it did not take this for granted.

    …10th N/Assembly most diverse since 1999 – INEC chairman

    Meanwhile, winners have been declared for 423 national legislative seats while supplementary elections will be held in 46 constituencies.

    According to INEC boss, in the Senate, 98 out of 109 seats have been declared, with seven political parties winning senatorial seats, while in the House of Representatives, 325 out of 360 seats have been won by eight political parties.

    He noted that in terms of party representation, this is the most diverse National Assembly since 1999.

    He said that in the Senate, APC has 57, APGA 1, LP 6, NNPP 2, PDP 29, SDP 2, YPP 1; while in the House of Representatives, ADC 2, APC 162, APGA 4, LP 34, NNPP 18, PDP 102, SDP 2 and YPP 1.

    He also said, “Certificates of return will be presented to senators-elect on March 7 while the reps-elect will get theirs on March 8.

  • Hoodlums allegedly hijack BVAS in Gov Emmanuel’s LGA 

    Hoodlums allegedly hijack BVAS in Gov Emmanuel’s LGA 

    By Odo Ogenyi, Uyo

    Hoodlums in Onna Local Government Area have allegedly hijacked Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in Oniong West Ward one, Unit 11 and 12 in the state.

    Sources told newsmen that the adhoc staff were supposed to use two BVAS for wards 11 and 12 but the hoodlums allegedly hijacked the BVAS of unit 12 and left BVAS of unit 11.

    The hoodlums he said matcheted two persons and the victims were rushed to unknown hospital in the area.

    “Some persons were injured and taking out for treatment in an unknown hospital in the area.” He said.

    Responding, Mr Iniabasi Ekanem, the Chairman of Onna Local Government Area confirmed the incident but however, said the hoodlums caused some issues in the polling units. 

    “We have little issues, we expected it but it depends on the way we manage it. The security officers stationed in the area helped to quell the situation.” He said.

    Ekanem explained that in-spite the disruption of the exercise by the hoodlums, the election was free and fair.

    He called on INEC to extend the voting time due to malfunctioning of the BVAS in the state. 

    The State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Odiko MacDon denied the incident.

  • Many BVAS Developed Faults At Sokoto East Senatorial District

    Many BVAS Developed Faults At Sokoto East Senatorial District

    By Muhammad Ibrahim,Sokoto

    The BVAS isued to Sokoto East Senatorial District developed faults despite the assurance by the state REC when he was collecting the materials from Sokoto branch of Central Bank.

    Expressing dismay over the issue,the state party Chairman Bello Aliyu Goronyo said this not anticipated inspite the assurance by INEC that everything is in order.

    He said either the BVAS develop internal faults or the operational code fiven them does not tally.

    Similarly in Kware,Wurno,Rabah and some other local governments gave the same complaints boardering the smooth election coupled chaos raised by some unreasonable electorates.

    The state APC Chairman Isah Sadiq Achida complained that daepite the Federal Government’s warning,PDP members in some units took away ballot boxes to unknown places.

    “We cannot condone this activity,measures must be taken while the APC would summon all stakeholders for immediate action”,Achida stated.

    He then called on all party members to be law abiding until the exercise ends.

    Despite the Federal Government’s assurrance to provide adequate security in all polling units, no single personnel was found over 300 polling units visited.

    The Sokoto east senatorial district with seven local governments is the second populated zone in Sokoto state.

  • 2023: INEC Begins Distribution of Sensitive Materials

    2023: INEC Begins Distribution of Sensitive Materials

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has started the distribution of sensitive materials for Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Items distributed include the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the result sheets as well as the ballot papers from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    The distribution, which is still ongoing across the country, was witnessed by all security agencies including the paramilitary; Police, Army, and representatives of political parties participating in the polls.

    The security agencies have promised to be fair and professional in the discharge of their election duties.

    See photos of the distribution of sensitive materials from various parts of the country below:

  • INEC Ready For Gen. Election With 1.6m Voters, 3,508 BVAS In Kogi – Dr. Hale

    INEC Ready For Gen. Election With 1.6m Voters, 3,508 BVAS In Kogi – Dr. Hale

    From Noah Ocheni Lokoja

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner, in-charge of Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Kogi state, Dr. Gabriel Longpet Hale on Tuesday in Lokoja stressed the readiness of the commission for the Presidential, national and Assembly elections in the state.

    Dr. Hale who disclosed this during the press briefing on the level of their preparedness at the INEC headquarters in Lokoja said 1.6million voters with their PVCs would be out for the election in the state.

    He pointed out that all the necessary training for staff, ad-hoc staff, security and other officers towards the election have been carried out.

    Dr. Hale further disclosed that 3,508 functional BVAS with 282 backups
    are ready, stressing that officers handling the electronic gadgets have been thoroughly trained for the election in the state.

    The REC said the security operatives have assured the commission of their preparation to provide adequate security for people to exercise their civic rights in the country.

    He therefore told journalists that lists of all those contesting for President, Senate , House of representative and Assembly and the voters supplementary lists have been displayed.

    The commissioner therefore appealed to journalists to be objective in their reportage during and after the election stressing Journalists as the lights of the society should keep the commission abreast of the happening at the grassroots.